Digital Ecosystems, Collective Intelligence, ontology and the 2nd law of thermodynamics

Digital Ecosystems are interconnected environments which enable the proliferation and harnessing of Collective Intelligence. Ontologies built in support of information systems that constitute the fabric of digital environments need to take into account dynamic factors which contribute to ‘ongoing change’ in the underlying reality. In this paper we put forward the hypothesis that ‘entropy’ (as defined in the second law of thermodynamics) as well as similar metrics must be used as a measurement to evaluate dynamic factors, and lay down the foundation for further research.